What’s in MY Name: Cherishing the Names of your Black Students - Part IV

Day 4: Two different African naming traditions

Teacher: Ok, now that we’ve begun research into African American naming traditions, let’s focus only on African naming traditions. There are 55 countries in Africa, over 3,000 ethnic groups, and at least 2,000 different languages. Look at this info-graphic showing some of those 2,000 languages.

Teacher: Even though the movie Black Panther is fiction, the Director and Producers did a lot of research and represented several real ethnic groups on the continent, such as the Sotho people.
 

Teacher: Thinking about all this, work with your partner/groups for 5 minutes to decide: is the following statement true or false? "Africa is a country." Explain your answer.

All groups will share out. Prepare who will share your response.

[Write a statement on a real or virtual whiteboard or display as a PowerPoint slide]

[Pre-assign partners or groups: in Microsoft Teams you can create channels for breakout discussions with small student groups if you share this lesson in an eLearning setting/online]

[Based solely on the information shared so far, students should say this is false. Help them, if needed, pull out all the ways this statement is false. You may need to add 1-2 details, but have them do the bulk of the work. Some sample, factually based replies could be:

This statement is false because: Africa is a continent, which is different from a country. It has 55 countries. -We learned Africa has thousands of languages. -Since there are many countries and languages and ethnic groups in Africa, I think there must be many different types of food, religion, and dress. [If they Google this during their breakout time and share more- even better]

-The language “plus some tribes or something” is not a fact with evidence ***Here, you should add that “tribe” is an English word historically used to describe non-English and non-European/non-white people. It is a controversial term that many scholars feel is both inaccurate and offensive for describing the different cultures and ethnic groups- a.k.a. human groups- of any continent, especially Africa. Why? The thousands of cultures of Africa have been so severely maligned and misrepresented for the past 500 years, with words like this used to promote anti-black stereotypes and other forms of misinformation. A great resource for understanding why many people who the terms are applied to find the word “tribes” and “tribal” offensive is this TEDTalk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [See in Resource Section]. Listen out for the word “tribal” in her talk to see what we mean.

Teacher: Excellent, now that we understand that the continent of Africa has thousands of different groups that have different languages, types of food, styles of dress, and beliefs – let’s look at two groups in the West Africa region, and their different naming traditions.

Activity 1:

Africa is a country. There is one African language, food, religion, dress, and way of doing things, plus some tribes or something. The Edo Naming Ceremony Excerpt below is from the full article entitled: This Is How Traditional Naming Ceremonies Are Performed Across the African Diaspora By: Asad Malik at panafricanalliance.com [Link to article and Excerpt in Resource Section]. The Edo Naming Ceremony Also referred to as the Bini or Benin ethnic group, the Edo are the descendants of the people who founded the Benin Empire, which is located in South/Mid-Western Nigeria now called Edo State. The traditional ceremony is usually a female affair that is performed on the seventh day after birth.

Before 10 am, family Elders and very close friends gather to consult oracles and pray for the child and its parents. During the main program of the ceremony, everyone sits down with the males on one side and females on the other side of the living room. The mother who is dressed for the occasion in her best attire holds the child. The eldest male representative of the head of the family says the opening prayers in the Edo language with Kola-nuts and drinks. He breaks the nuts and shares them. The eldest female member of the family now takes up the remaining activities of the evening. She will ask the mother of the child what she calls the child. The same question is asked seven times. On each of the first six occasions, the mother will give a silly or ridiculous name to the child (like Donkey Kong) which the other women will reject. In response to the seventh question, the elders whisper the child’s name to the father, who then whispers it to the mother, who then announces it publicly. In response, all the women affirm and pray that the child lives along with the parents. Additional prayers, food, and drink follow.

The names given to Edo children pay homage to their king, reflect high moral values, or pay homage to their homeland.

Examples of Edo names include:

“iEkinadoese”: One who does good deeds

“Edorisiagbon”: Edo land is the center of the world

“iEhiosu”: Protected by the Ancestors

The Yoruba Naming Ceremony Yorubaland is the home of Ifa – the ancient African religion that we wrote about here. The naming ceremony – called Akosejaye or Esen’taye – is so much more than deciding what to call a child. It is a process of determining the entire destiny of that since it is believed that a child eventually lives out the meaning of his or her names. Cassava makes up a large part of the Yoruba diet, and some believe this is why

Yorubaland has the highest rate of twins in the world at around 4.4% for all maternities. Kehinde (Short for Omokehinde) is a given name of Yoruba origin meaning “the second-born of the twins” or the one who comes after Taiwo. Though Taiwo is the firstborn, it is believed that Kehinde is the elder twin, sending Taiwo into the world first to determine if it is time to be born.

The Ceremony is presided over by a Babalawo (priest of the Ifá oracle) dressed in white begins with a small prayer and the introduction of the family and the baby and the welcoming of the guests and well-wishers. Prayers and songs of praise to their ancestors and/or God welcome the new addition to the family. The presiding elder then presides over the event with 7 symbolic items that are traditionally used to express the hope or path of a successful life. The elder then presides over the rest of the ceremony, which involves presenting the child with seven core symbolic items. Traditionally, the items are rubbed against the child’s lips, but the modern approach to this practice involves the mother tasting the items on behalf of the child. The core items –water, salt, honey and /or sugar, palm oil, kola nut, bitter kola, pepper, and dried fish – and their symbolic significance are described below:
 

Activity 2:

[Use a strategy of your choosing to explore this article or excerpt with students. One simple strategy is to divide students into pairs or groups of four using Microsoft Teams channels or breakout rooms in other online formats. Have each group pick either the Edo or the Yoruba naming ceremony to read about. Ask them to

1) read the article section [See in Resource Section] and

2) summarize the main points and parts of the naming ceremony on a piece of chart paper or an online whiteboard. Have each pair or group present.

As groups present- have one person taking class notes to create one collective summary of the naming ceremonies of each of the two groups. If you choose to read the entire article- choose small sections each day to have students read and summarize until they have completed the entire article. Consider assigning small chunks of it for homework.

Make sure to have all students record the collective notes about both Edo and Yoruba naming traditions (or more if you decide to use the full article).

Students will need to connect their projects to these traditions in some way for their projects.]

If needed, send it to your grade level and school administrators to receive approval.

Another important strategy is to send a note home with parents letting them know you will be talking about racism, send a copy of the lesson home first, and see if any families have concerns.

Including your colleagues, school administration, and families of the students ensures collective learning and growth and avoids potential roadblocks.

If you are a family member, completing this at home, you are acting as a teacher and guide, so all the parts saying “teacher” apply to you as well!

[Use a strategy of your choosing to explore this article or excerpt with students. One simple strategy is to divide students into pairs or groups of four using Microsoft Teams channels or breakout rooms in other online formats. Have each group pick either the Edo or the Yoruba naming ceremony to read about. Ask them to

1) read the article, Edo and Yoruba Naming Traditions, Edo and Yoruba Naming Traditions [See link to article and excerpt in Resource Section] and

2) summarize the main points and parts of the naming ceremony on a piece of chart paper or an online whiteboard. Have each pair or group present.

As groups present- have one person taking class notes to create one collective summary of the naming ceremonies of each of the two groups. If you choose to read the entire article- choose small sections each day to have students read and summarize until they have completed the entire article. Consider assigning small chunks of it for homework.

Make sure to have all students record the collective notes about both Edo and Yoruba naming traditions (or more if you decide to use the full article).

Students will need to connect their projects to these traditions in some way for their projects.]